DUI Traffic Stops in Jacksonville – When can you be asked to perform Field Sobriety Exercises?

When you are pulled over by a police officer for DUI (DWI, Driving Under the Influence, or drunk driving), the officer has to follow certain rules before asking you to do anything. Unless the officer has “reasonable suspicion” to believe you are under the influence of alcohol, they have no right to require you to perform Field Sobriety Exercises. Once the officer has reasonable suspicion, he or she has the authority to ask you to submit to the Field Sobriety Exercises. Having the odor or alcohol on your breath does not, by itself, lead to reasonable suspicion. Other things such as your driving pattern, your admissions to drinking alcohol, having difficulty talking, having red, watery eyes, and having slurred, stuttered, thick tongued speech must also be present.